STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — All offseason, Penn State was the darling of preseason prognostications for the Big Ten and for a large swath of the country — and for good reason.
The Nittany Lions made it to the College Football Playoff semifinals and returned their highly-touted quarterback, Drew Allar, and the premier running back tandem of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Then they went out and added three transfer receivers to shore up their glaring offensive weakness and hired defensive coordinator Jim Knowles fresh off the national championship at Ohio State.
Ohio State, which won the CFP National Championship, returned the best offensive and defensive players in college football, but had a lot of holes to fill.
Oregon, which won the Big Ten Championship by beating Penn State, had to “get over” its embarrassing Rose Bowl performance and reload after losing a program record 10 players to the NFL draft.
No. 3 Penn State was coming off a bye week ahead of its 18th full-stadium White Out, which produced 111,015 at Beaver Stadium Saturday night, yet was getting the benefit of doubt despite not looking dominant at times against a terrible nonconference schedule.
Dante Moore played exceptional through the first four games, but he and No. 6 Oregon faced more questions ahead of the top 10 matchup and the most hostile environment perhaps in program history.
“We said the White Out was going to be a white canvas for us today,” Lanning said. “We get an opportunity to paint our masterpiece.”
Yet it was Moore who outperfored Allar, Oregon’s running backs — young and old — out-gained Penn State’s duo and the UO defense had its best all-around performance of Lanning’s tenure. It all led to a 30-24 double-overtime win that is an early statement about the state of two of the Big Ten’s premier programs this season as well as an affirmation of Lanning’s “double down” message this year, with many of Oregon’s top contributors being developed from within.
“We’re relentless,” linebacker Bryce Boettcher said. “I’ve been saying it from the beginning; it’s all about culture. We’ve built an excellent culture here at Oregon. A lot of the new guys and guys that transferred in are a part of building that.
“The most physical football team always wins and it starts in practice. We wear pads Monday through Thursday and some guys think it’s ridiculous but it shows up when it needs to.”
Oregon allowed Penn State to run for 292 yards in last year’s conference title game, which combined with the blowout loss in the Rose Bowl led to an offseason long emphasis on improving run defense.
Lanning said the Ducks “found some flaws in our game” during the offseason.
The Nittany Lions (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) ran for 139 yards on 35 carries on Saturday, including just 24 yards in the first half. Allen ran for 54 yards while Singleton had just 21.
“They’re really tough when it comes to formations,” Lanning said. “Tonight we were lined up with our hand in the dirt a lot more; that was a mindset coming from the Big Ten Championship game. There were too many plays where the ball was snapped and we’re not in a stance. We were in a stance tonight and it paid off.”
The biggest road win of Lanning’s career was one of the most taxing. The 39-year-old was drained after what he called “the best game I’ve ever been a part of.”
“There’s a lot of emotion in a game like that,” Lanning said. “You put your all — you work incredible hours, our players work so hard. For them to be able to celebrate like that — it would have been devastating to be on the other end of that. I feel for that team in the other locker room because they busted their ass too. You talk about a good football that we’re probably going to see again.”
In just his fifth career road start, Moore was 29 of 39 for 248 yards with three touchdowns and ran for 35 yards. The third-year sophomore was instrumental to the Ducks converting 5 of 7 fourth downs, including on a run in the first overtime period that kept the game alive.
Moore recalled his game at Utah in 2023, while at UCLA, as a difficult road test that he did not fare well in as a true freshman. He wasn’t confident, by his own admission.
That was not an issue for him in Happy Valley, which was raucous early and especially once Penn State tied it with 30 seconds to play and throughout overtime.
Yet Moore was not sacked, the Ducks (5-0, 2-0) allowed just one tackle for loss and only committed two pre-snap penalties while playing in front of the largest crowd ever for the program.
“Playing on the road can be very difficult,” Moore said. “But we came out with the win and it’s a blessing.”
Oregon returns home for a bye before hosting Indiana in what will be another top 10 matchup.
It has some answers now, while Penn State is again looking for answers following yet another loss to a top 10 team.
“It’s the facts,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “I get it, but I try to look at the entire picture and what we’ve been able to do here, but at the end of the day, we got to find a way to win those games. I totally get it, and I take ownership, and I take responsibility.”